The Walking Dead: 10 Ways To Make The Show Great Again

4. Forget Cheap Scares€”Give Us Tension!

Every single time a walker sneaks out from a dark corner, jumps out of a closet, or suddenly pops into the frame, it€™s meant to illicit a primal reaction in all of us. It€™s meant to scare us€”a trick horror genre writers and directors have long since known about the brain€™s fight or flight mechanism. This mechanism automatically kicks in, whether the threat is real or not. But the problem is when such actions are sustained over long periods of time, they no longer become frightening. They become tedious, and downright boring. That€™s where we€™re at with the show. The threat of walkers has been greatly mitigated over the past couple seasons, and now it seems as though all they€™re good for is popping out of a dark place to scare one of our beloved characters before they jab a knife through its eye. So what€™s missing? Tension, baby. To be clear, I€™m not just referring to walkers. Recall the overwhelming, even choking tension between Rick and Shane during the first couple seasons. It made for the kind of television you dare not peel your eyes away from. And only at the end of season two did we finally get the payoff in the form of a final confrontation. It felt good too. It felt real. Why? Because we were on the edge of our seats with anticipation for a long time. We felt their struggle, we hated Shane, we empathised with Rick. It was a lasting impression on the show, and it was awesome. Or how about the first couple episodes of season three? Remember when Rick€™s group had to clear the prison of walkers? There were several incredibly tense moments as they passed through the darkened depths of the prison, guided only by flashlights and steeled nerves. When I think about my favourite horror movies or books, it€™s often that the monster is never or seldom seen. We only hear it, see evidence of its existence, and so on. The reason is whatever we can conjure up in our heads is almost infinitely more terrifying than anything that could ever be projected through the words of a book or the light of a screen. The Walking Dead is missing this in a big way. It€™s substituting implied dangers for tangible ones, which, after repeated uses, turn out to be far less frightening. I enjoy being uncomfortable when watching television. It€™s a compliment to the writing team that they can elicit such a response out of me. I don€™t want to feel safe. If you want safe, then go watch Flashpoint or Criminal Minds or CSI: Anytown (by the way, how do they have better analytical timetables than science currently allows€”you know what, forget it). The Walking Dead needs to get back to providing tension, because it enhances the overall experience and allows for better payoffs. I know Dale would agree. Speaking of Dale€